Bulk update December 07

Wow, I really have to keep this thing updated. So now that it’s past mid-January, I should document December, right? ;)

Anyway, December:

The older I get, the more I notice my capacity for putting up with bullshit decreasing at an alarming rate. Latest bullshit from GMAC: Not three weeks after filing a complaint re: the Payoff Statement scam, GMAC conveniently loses all my insurance paperwork and sends a nastygram demanding copies of my insurance info ASAP before they go buy their own policy from Their Guys and charge it to my bill. Punted the letter off to the insurance company, who straightened everything out.

My folks came up for a visit around the 8-10, I think mostly as an excuse to see the new bachelor pad. This time my brother was along too; he’s usually not been able to come out here. He and I went out to the Joshua Tree* to enjoy some Guinness and the joy that is unshoveled sidewalks; the next day we all went to JR’s dirty cookie party :P Nobody seemed to be starting the dirtiness (there were a lot of lab folks there, etc.), so my folks did, and (some of) the rest of the group follwed suit. Pics of this year’s aren’t posted yet, but here are the results of last year’s :P

Somewhere along this weekend, the whole issue of us all eating together came up while Kr* was over. (For OCD-ish reasons I won’t bother to detail here, my brother and I do not eat together. Due to this, as a family eating out together, we would typically get two tables spaced some distance apart from one another.) Anyway, Kr* took notice of this and wanted to know what it was about, and since I don’t like lying to people (especially a girlfriend), I told her a bit about it. Yeah, good call Batman. She was pretty weirded out to say the least… in the car later, the words “I might have to do some thinking about us” (or something to that effect) were said, probably not at all seriously, but it still about made my heart drop into my intestines since I’m never really able to tell. I forgot (or maybe am trying to forget) how refreshing it was to be with someone who was not only unweirded by that sort of thing, but explicitly *got it*, by virtue of having having the same stuff themselves. No* explicitly got it. Kr* seemed to get over it by the next day, but it kind of made me wonder in the back of my mind, what I can really share with her, and at what level of detail.

I’m sure that feeling will pass in time.

Meanwhile, parts are in and work on my super secret home CNC has begun. So far I have all 3 motor drivers built, and the Z axis holding a Dremel (-alike) as a spindle. Now I just have to find time (and sudden mechanical engineering prowess) to build the rest of the machine! I also put together the first V2 Rezu prototype.

Had Xmas in the Great White North; 4 days in Massena with Kr* and her family. Seemed to get along with her folks pretty well; I didn’t get kicked out of the house or anything! So, her mom is into Christmas. Like, really into Christmas. They had two fullsize trees, one small tree, and so many gifts under them you could hardly walk across the room (“under” in this case being a loose term). I’ve never seen anything like it. Kr* introduced me to her extended family and hometown; apparently one of their big attractions is watching ships raise and lower in the river locks, but they were closed the day a big icebreaker came through. So instead we found this little nature center and hung out there. All sorts of live critters, including free-range ferrets just kind of roaming around in the building. We also assembled a rather sizeable bowling posse, I learned to play euchre, and discovered the joy of poutine, eh?

Shortly after returning from this, it was time to head to Chicago for New year’s, but that’s for the next lazy man bulkupdate :P

* Sometime not that long after I moved to Boston, my folks came out to visit… I was still single and my dad was getting nervous… while we were having lunch at a local place, he randomly leans over and grabs the attention of an attractive young lady sitting alone at the table next to us and says, “So, my son here is single… where would be a good place for him to go and meet a nice young lady?” (as I sink ever lower in my chair with embarrassment). The girl, visibly taken by surprise and bewilderment, replies, “Um… he might try a bar…like, maybe the Joshua Tree…” (one of several local Davis Square bars). So for at least the next two years, pretty much every conversation with him either contained or started with, “So, have you been to the Joshua Tree yet?” So, now I have finally been to the Joshua Tree. Go me.


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